Beginning Friday, April 25, motorists will be able to pay immediately and remove boots that have been placed on their cars because they have accrued an excessive amount of parking tickets or other violations.
The City’s Department of Public Works will begin using the high tech SmartBoot, one of two state-of-the-art parking enforcement and collection initiatives being implemented this week.
The system is being implemented to improve customer service for motorists whose vehicles have been booted. Instead of having to locate a payment location and wait for a City release crew – a process that can take hours (or days if the booting occurs just before a weekend or holiday) -- the new SmartBoot can be easily removed by the motorist immediately after making a payment. Notices will be placed on the driver side window and windshield of immobilized vehicles listing a toll free number linked to a HelpCenter that can be reached 24 hours a day to make the payment.
Motorists must pay the balance of the unpaid parking fines along with the boot fee applied over the phone using a credit card, debit card or check by phone to receive a code to unlock the SmartBoot. For those who are unable to remove the boot on their own, a boot officer will be dispatched to release the vehicle for them. Assisted releases are available Monday - Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Boots that have been self-released must be returned within 24 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) to the Parking Division, Immobilization Office, at 200 N. Claiborne Avenue, or face a late fee of $25.
Those who need to pay with cash will still need to visit the PublicWorksAdministrativeHearingCenter, at 1340 Poydras Street, Suite 800, or the City tow lot to make a payment.
“This program enhances our ability to provide good customer service while remaining fair and efficient, and allows citizens to get back to their day to day lives without delay. We found that if we can eliminate driver delay we can minimize frustration and the anxiety associated with vehicle immobilization,” said Robert Mendoza, director of Public Works. “Now, we are giving people the option of releasing the boot themselves which helps them move through this difficult process quickly and efficiently.
Vehicles are eligible for immobilization or towing when they accumulate three or more unpaid parking citations. If a vehicle is booted, a $75 boot fee is applied. If booted vehicles are left unclaimed for more than 48 hours, they are towed and charged an additional tow fee of $100.
Currently, 8,607 vehicles are boot-eligible, representing $3.2 million in unpaid fees owed the City, or roughly $400 per vehicle. Owners of these vehicles have been sent an average of 20 to 25 warning notices before being added to the boot eligibility list.
To help identify boot and tow eligible vehicles the city has also implemented a Mobile License Plate Recognition (MLPR) system in conjunction with the Smartboot. City vehicles will be equipped with MLPR units that include roof mounted cameras and laptop computers designed to easily read and match license plate numbers to on board plate listings.
The MLPR system uses character recognition software to read license plates at speeds roughly seven times faster than manual operation that was used by boot officers in the past. The MLPR cameras have a 90 percent accuracy rate in the identification of license plates.
In addition to identifying vehicles with unpaid parking citations, the MLPR system can also be used to find stolen vehicles and amber alert vehicles.
For more information on the SmartBoots and the Mobile License Plate Recognition System visit www.cityofno.com or call 311. (New Orleans Press Release)
Road Home
Latest Program Statistics
As of April 21, 2008
Total applications recorded:
185,106 (final)
Initial appointments held:
166,093 (final)
Eligible applicants:
155.384
No funding:
3,530
Elevation only:
13,142
Sold home prior to application:
5,048
Benefit options selected:
138,804
Option 1 - 120,552
Option 2 - 10,107
Option 3 - 2,816
Decline benefits - 1,807
Delay benefit selection - 3,392
Closings held:
106,793
Total amount of awards disbursed:
$6.3 billion*
Average award disbursed:
$58,643*
Louisiana Executive Orders
* These numbers are reported as of April 17, 2008.
The 'BBB' Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (LA Citizens) and the 'BBB' underlying ratings on LA Citizens' $978.2 million assessment revenue bonds remain on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.
The ratings were initially placed on Rating Watch Negative on Mar. 8, 2007 as a result of increased uncertainty following the announcement that, due to computer problems, the company was having difficulty retrieving its last two years (2005 & 2006) of financial data and had yet to complete its 2005 financial statement audit.
While Fitch favorably recognizes that these problems have not had an adverse impact on the company's ability to service its debt, the continued delay in producing audited financial statements severely limits the company's financial flexibility, which is particularly concerning if such statements are not finalized before the traditional June 1st start of hurricane season. As such, there continues to be uncertainty as to the company's ability to issue additional debt and maintain its operations following significant catastrophe losses.
Fitch expects to resolve the Rating Watch following a review of the company's audited financial statements. Due to the extent of the data problems, rebuilding the financial reporting system has taken much longer than expected with the company only recently completing its 2005 financials. Management now expects to produce 2006 and 2007 financial statements for the external auditors before the end of June 2008, the first month of hurricane season. Fitch anticipates that following the external auditor review the existing ratings would likely be affirmed and removed from Rating Watch.
While this unfortunate event represents a serious operations risk management issue and corporate governance weakness, it is important to note that the company's debt service function is kept insulated from the company's operations. All assessable insurers remit assessments directly to the trustee, bypassing the company entirely. These assessment revenues can only be used to pay debt service, retire bonds, or to pay expenses related to the 2005 plan year deficit. Additional bondholder security is provided by a debt service reserve fund and emergency assessment stabilization fund that provides approximately two years of debt service coverage. Favorably, emergency assessment collections (the debtholders' primary repayment source) have thus far been above forecasts due to strong growth in the assessment base.
The ratings of LA Citizens reflect the quality of the Louisiana insurance market and the credit quality of the State of Louisiana (general obligation (GO) rating 'A'; Outlook Stable). Since the hurricanes, the state has continued to demonstrate a commitment to a viable insurance market. The market has also benefited from favorable court rulings on the issue of wind versus flood in Louisiana, including a recent Supreme Court of Louisiana ruling issued in April 2008.
The state also demonstrated its support with the legislature putting in place a $100 million incentive program in 2007 that provided matching grants of up to $10 million for established insurers to write property insurance in the state. However, only seven insurance companies were approved for a total of $39 million in grant funds as interest in the program was not as strong as expected. Furthermore, several companies were rejected or were not inclined to apply due to the requirements set by the state that were designed to entice more long-term, stable capacity, as opposed to more thinly capitalized, weaker take-out companies.
Nevertheless, this program will help LA Citizens in its mission to depopulate its exposure into the voluntary market and reduce the likelihood of future deficits, with the company expecting to reduce policy count by 30,000 to 35,000 by June 1, 2008. Furthermore, the market has generally stabilized as there have been no sizable catastrophe losses in the region since 2005 and capacity is returning to the market.
LA Citizens is also dealing the recent turmoil in the credit markets, having experienced failed auctions of its auction rate securities (series 2006C) resulting in the reset of interest rates at significantly higher rates averaging 12% (ranging from 9%-14%), up from about 4%. Fortunately, the company has enough cash in its capitalized interest fund to cover the higher interest costs prior to Dec. 1, 2008 and can access the emergency assessment stabilization fund ($82 million balance) to cover any shortfall.
The company is also currently considering financing options to convert its existing $300 million auction rate securities and reduce the significant negative arbitrage, or high interest cost spread relative to its investment return. These options include the use of cash collateralized and/or direct pay letters of credit in the near term and refinancing the variable rate debt with fixed rate in the mid to long term.
The ratings of LA Citizens' also reflect its state-authorized power to assess its assessable insurers as a pass-through vehicle to property insurance policyholders in Louisiana, along with the high credit quality of that assessable insurer base. Weighted against these positives are the nature of exposure to windstorm catastrophes and the sizable amount of debt to service relative to the available amount of emergency assessments.
The following ratings remain on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch:
--$678.205 million assessment revenue bonds, series 2006B, due 2023 'BBB';
--$300 million assessment revenue bonds, series 2006C (auction rate), due 2027 'BBB'.
Real Estate Drop Or Depends
With real estate prices dropping like flies, and oil prices sucking away cash from consumers, the economy is becoming more of an issue as jobs are being lost nationally.However, not all states are feeling the pinch.According to Randy Jeffers (in Marketwatch), chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors while the number of sales has fallen somewhat, he still regards his market of Amarillo, Texas, as a seller's market right now. The median price of an existing single-family home in Amarillo was up an annualized 11% in the fourth quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, in much of the South Louisiana area prices are plummeting, despite the high oil prices.Many real estate experts are claiming it will take three to five years for the market to return.South Louisiana was especially hard hit due to Katrina and Rita.
